Summer Lawn Care Tips For New Homeowners

May and June are some of the most popular months to buy a house in Canada. When it’s your first home, or even your second or third - there’s quite a lot of excitement around moving into the new space. You’ve taken your time to pick out paint colours and maybe some new furniture. Now it’s time to look at the yard.

Where do you start?

A well-tended lawn can increase the value of your new property by as much as 15%! That’s a pretty big return on what could be a relatively modest investment.

Stock Up!

If this is your first home, you might have to start from scratch. Here’s what you’ll need:

Lawnmower – Whether you pick up a used mower or buy one new, there are a number of options available. Some gas mowers require you to mix the fuel before putting it in the mower (gasoline and engine oil), use straight gas, electric, or even retro push mowers. Pick your weapon wisely. And make sure the blades are sharp so that the grass isn’t damaged when you mow.

Trimmer – A trimmer (gas or electric) is very helpful for trimming the lawn around flower beds, patios, trees, and other obstacles. Trimming the lawn keeps the property looking neat and tidy.

Lawn Seed – It’s great to have a bag of grass seed on hand. When you pull a weed, make sure drop a handful of grass seed in its place. Summer is not the best time to overseed, you’re better to wait until the fall, but small spots that need a fresh splash of seed will be fine.

Triple Mix – This is a soil mix that combines top soil, compost and peat moss. Grass seed LOVES this stuff. Drop a handful of triple mix in the hole where you’ve just removed a weed, drop in a handful of grass seed on top, good to go.

Fertilizer – Typically, fertilizer is most effective when applied in spring or fall, but if your new lawn is thin you can spruce things up with a slow release nitrogen formula. You can get mixes that are phosphate free which is better for the environment. Slow release fertilizers only release nutrients when the temperature rises. The activity takes place in the soil each time it rains. So, your lawn only receives additional nutrients when it can best make use of them.

And looking ahead to fall, you’ll want to pick up a lawn rake.

There are plenty of things you can do to improve your lawn, but grass is also pretty forgiving. You don’t have to do everything at once. Set aside some budget and time in the fall to fertilize and overseed. In the spring, budget for dethatching and aeration as needed. You can also overseed in the spring and deal with any weeds that pop up.

The beautiful thing about grass is that within a season you can completely turn around the look and feel of the turf and create a space that you’ll want to sink your toes into when the warm weather hits. Contact the experts at Nutri-Lawn Ottawa to help you identify any problems and provide solutions to make the transition to a beautiful lawn even easier.